Runaway
by ffffuturelove
Summary: The third and final installment to the Rebel Girl series. Leia is running from Draco and herself, but all she finds is a war.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, this is the final multi chapter part to the Rebel Girl series. I've been working on it for a while, and then I put it down, but now it's here. It's quite a ride. Strap in.

I love each and everyone of you.

Rated M for language, themes, and sexual situations.

I do not own any bit of the Harry Potter franchise.

1997

Runaway by Kanye West ft. Pusha T

While shoving clothing into a box, Leia was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. She turned with her hand on her wand on instinctive.

"Honey, you have some visitors." Her mother said. Leia walked with her mother, down the stairs with her hand on her wand even after she saw Hermione Granger standing in her alcove with another man. Hermione looked nervous, but somewhat unchanged from when Leia had last seen her. The man next to her was mid-forties, tall, and a few scars on his face. He wore a dark brown, pinstriped suit that Leia admired. Something made her wonder if these were Death Eaters with polyjuice potion.

"Uh, hi, how do you know where I live?" Leia asked. She was scared, just like she had been for the past few weeks.

"McGonagall, of course." Hermione answered with nerves showing in her voice. She must have noticed how Leia's hand was in her pocket.

"And who are you?" Leia asked to the man.

"My name is Remus Lupin, I am here today representing the Order, and I thought it might be appropriate to bring along a familiar face." He said gesturing to Hermione.

"Um, do come in and sit down." Leia said trying to keep calm as she walked them into their living room. "I guess I'm supposed to offer tea, but I'm pretty sure we only have coffee."

"Coffee sounds great." Remus said before sitting down on an antique velvet chair.

"I'm fine." Hermione said, attempting to be causal.

"Do you want cream or sugar?" She asked, pretending she was a good host.

"I'll take it black, thanks."

"A man after my own heart." She said while walking into the kitchen. Her hands were shaking. These people could be death eaters. They could have terrible news. People she cared about could be dead. They had been so out of the news for the past few weeks that the war could have ended and she'd have no idea.

Luckily they always had coffee brewing in the Allen household, so it didn't take her long to fill a mug for her guest. She thought of making one for herself, but then she would have a mug in each hand and not a free hand to keep on her wand. Hopefully everything was okay. Maybe the war was over and everything was normal again.

She came back a moment later with coffee for Remus, and sat down in the chair that faced both of them. There was a silence for a moment as Remus took a drink that was interrupted by Luke walking through the room.

"Guests?" He asked as he walked with a medium sized box in his hands.

"Yup. Hermione Granger and Remus Lupin." Leia said, still trying to be calm.

"You look familiar…" Remus asked Luke, to Leia's surprise.

"I feel like I've met you before." Luke said putting down a box to look at the man better.

"Oh, I remember now, you were in the train station and you didn't have any wizard money and I paid for your ticket."

"Yes, I remember now, when I introduced myself you had already heard of Leia. And thank you again for the train ride."

"You're welcome."

Luke nodded, picked up his box, and left saying, "I'd love to stay and chat but I've got packing to do!"

This must be Remus Lupin if he knew about this random event. A Death Eater wouldn't have known that. And that must be real Hermione, because with Lupin wouldn't go places with impostors. Leia sighed in relief and took her hand out of her pocket.

When Luke was gone, Leia turned to her guests.

"So why did the two of you come to find me?" Leia asked.

"Well, as I said, I am here representing the Order. You've actually been a somewhat frequent topic of debate. We have been long aware of your talents in wizardry, teaching, and more recently healing. From what I understand you were a critical part in Dumbledore's Army. We are all very impressed with you." Lupin paused to find the right words. "To be honest, half of us want to offer you protection within our ranks and the other half don't trust you. However, after several debates, we have decided that you are too important to be left unprotected. There are a few safe houses left that we can offer a room for you."

Leia sighed and let the words sink in. She felt like she was a somewhat trustworthy person, minus the whole murderer ex-boyfriend.

"What about my family?" She said in almost a whisper.

"Well, unfortunately, of the three safe houses that we do have, there would not be enough room for four people and two animals. However, as I can see, your family is moving. If they are moving out of England, they should be safe. We have no reason to believe that You-Know-Who's side has any interest in going after your family."

Leia looked at Lupin seriously.

"Why, is there a Death Eater mailer that states their intentions for the next quarter?" she said.

Lupin laughed, but mostly sighed.

"Snape has been our spy into You-Know-Who's agenda since before you were born, so that's probably better than a mailer."

Leia had a hard time trusting Snape after he ratted out her Draco phase to Lord-Fucking-Voldemort. The embarrassment of last Valentine's Day had not been forgotten.

"So you have reason to believe they have plans to capture me?" She said trying to stay calm.

"Kidnapping you has been used as a threat to Draco Malfoy. Apparently he wasn't following instructions as well as You-Know-Who wanted, but now he is."

Leia swallowed in slight horror. Bellatrix's words from last year echoed in her head.

"Where would I be living?"

"Probably with Ron's brother and his wife. It's by the sea."

"I wouldn't be able to go outside, would I?"

"Outside yes, traveling around would be tricky."

"Are there any other options?" Leia asked sadly.

"Well, you could tell us where you were going to live and Snape could lead them off your trail."

Leia really didn't want to live as a captive. She didn't want to be a captive in the infamous Malfoy Mannor as much as she didn't want to be captive in Ron's brother's seaside house. But she really didn't want Snape knowing where she lived.

"I really don't want Snape knowing where my family and I are."

Lupin looked at her curiously.

"Snape has been a very trusted member-"

"Oh, I know Snape's reputation. However, I do know for a fact that it was Snape who told You-Know-Who about me in the first place. So there are some trust issues."

Leia had wondered if Snape had a personal issue with her, or if she was purely meant for blackmailing Draco. Either way, she wasn't fond of her former professor.

"Well, you can deny our protection, and the Death Eaters might find you or you could take our offer and Snape might tell the Death Eaters where to find you."

"So I'm possibly fucked either way."

"I trust Snape. It's not my problem if you don't trust him, but your whereabouts will be on a need-to-know basis."

Leia sighed. She hated that she had to make this decision. She was only 17. She went with her gut.

"My family has some friends in a commune called Saint-Glen in North Western France. We'll be hiding there."

"Is there an address?"

"We're living in a house, on a farm that is on La Roch, I believe, and I'm not sure they have house numbers. I think it's like a P.O. box kinda place."

"How is your French?" Hermione asked, speaking for the first time.

"Terrible."

"What will you be doing there?" Hermione asked.

"No idea, but, um, we are going under the name Stuart. I am Ashley Stuart, my brother Evan Stuart, my mother Olivia will be Alison Stuart, and my father Victor will be Robert Stuart. We are from Wichita, Kansas and are staying with our distant relatives, the Belaires, because we are running from the law. This is the plan Hugo Belaire came up with, and apparently this isn't the first time a family running from the law has come to Saint-Glen."

Hermione nodded.

"I wish you luck." Lupin said standing up. "We really do need to get going."

Leia nodded and led them out the door. Hermione waved a sad goodbye before they walked out. Leia whispered goodbye as tried to breathe.

xoxo

First chapter dedicated to readingfairy


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry if the names get confusing, that's kind of the point. Just a reminder, Leia is now Ashley, Luke is now Evan, and the rest don't really matter. Enjoy and review.

* * *

Furthest Thing by Drake

Everything was a bright green in Saint-Glen. Leia didn't expect it to be so beautiful, but it was like being surrounded by postcards of green pastures. All of the buildings were old and made of stone. The roads twisted and turned in the most beautiful ways. This was so different than St Louis, New York, or London. She was comfortable in cities, but maybe this change of scenery would be good for her.

The house, the Belaire's house, was the largest in the city and they were obviously the wealthiest. Well off dairy farmers with 25 employees, lived comfortably in a house with three more bedrooms then they needed. It was luck that Hugo knew of the Allens. Hugo's brother worked with Leia's father Victor closely in London, and he met Hugo at a dinner party. Victor called Hugo up when he remembered they lived in an obscure village in France. Things looked like they would work out just fine here. Hopefully it would be like a long vacation.

Unfortunately, first dinner at the Belaire's house was most awkward meal Leia had ever had. It was just like the first meal with new roommates the first night freshman year of college, only if one roommate was actually a family of four and 'running from the law.'

"Ashley, Evan and I are the same age. We will be in the same level in school.*" Jerome, the son, said to make some noise other than the clicking of knives on glass plates. He spoke the best English.

"When does school start?" Leia, or rather Ashley's, mother asked.

"September." He said before pausing to take a bite of chicken. "We're in _Premi__è__re_, the level for 16, 17 years old. You choose which _sé__ries _you want to study in. There is _Sé__ries S_, science and math, _Sé__ries ES_, economics and social sciences, and _Sé__ries L_, literature. I am in _Sé__ries S_, the most common."

"What do you think you'll do?" Leia, Ashely, asked her brother. She would have normally chosen the literature option, but her French was slightly worse than an 8 year old. Her brother was slightly better than her, but was never a reader. He was never really a 'school' person in the first place. He tended to charm the teachers, but then blow off most classes and spend every lunch period playing guitar with gang, but that was years ago back in Saint Louis. She didn't even know what his British grades were.

"Probably the science and math one." He said causally.

"Are you good at either of those?" Ashley said surprised.

"I took calculus and physics last year, so yeah…"

She had done rather well in Arithmancy, but that was numerology, not calculus. Ashley, when she was Leia, also did well in Potions, but there was no periodic table like chemistry. There was of course Healing, which she was very good at, but it was mostly about potions and spells along with some anatomical knowledge. It was in that moment when she realized that her Hogwarts education had kind of been useless.

"So…" Leia said out loud while reeling over her education.

"Well, you _did_ go to a fine arts based private school for the last two years." Her mother said, weaving more lies to keep track of.

"There are some art electives you could take." Jerome said, feeling pity on Ashley.

"I mean, I did very well in biology, so I guess I'll take the sciences one…"

Her father nodded, pleased. He was never a fan of Leia going into fashion like his wife had.

"Do you play football, Evan?" Hugo Belaire asked in a deep voice. When they first entered the house Hugo was watching a game. Ashely, Leia, had to stifle a chuckle knowing that her brother was even more unathletic than she was.

"I've played with my friends occasionally. Nothing too serious." He answered, probably lying.

"I play forward." Jerome said, in an excited tone.

"I've usually been a midfielder."

_Wait. Did Luke, my Luke, just use a soccer term?_

"My team needs a midfielder."

"I'd join."

_What? HE__'__LL JOIN? Doesn__'__t he know if he joins he__'__ll have to play?_

"I'll talk to my coach about it." Jerome said nodding enthusiastically.

"Cool." Evan said with the same enthusiasm.

Leia, Ashley, tried to hide the shock from her face. She felt like she didn't know her brother at all.

"Does your family go to church on Sundays?" Alison Stewart asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. The Catholic church is close." Hugo responded, smiling.

"We will have to join your congregation." Alison said, with a similar smile.

_Wait. We'__re Catholics now?_

Leia Allen wasn't even baptized. She had never been to church in her life. Luke didn't seem fazed by the comment, so maybe he had started going to church? Apparently the Stewarts were Catholic, but why hadn't any of the Allens mentioned a practicing religion around Leia?

Leia/Ashley incredibly felt light headed all of the sudden.

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling very well. If you'll let me be excused, where should I clean my plate?" She said standing up.

"I clean food." Emmeline, the mother, said loudly, the first time she had spoken at dinner. She knew very little English, and must have felt embarrassed about it. She only spoke to the Stewarts when necessary.

"Leave it there." Hugo said after Ashley looked confused for a moment.

"_Merci_." She said as she left the table. Margo, the youngest, waved as Ashley left.

She walked up the stairs to her room, between the one of the bathrooms and Margo's room. It was across from Jerome's and Luke/Evan's various rooms and washroom. The master bedroom, where Emmeline and Hugo slept was upstairs next to another guest room where Robert and Alison slept.

Uhura was hiding in Ashley's room. The Belaires had a dog, a Yorkshire terrier that was smaller than both Uhura and Spock. Uhura didn't really know what to do with it so she avoided their dog, Garcon, at all costs. Spock got along with it better. The Allen's pets were the only ones who got to keep their identities.

Leia laid down on the bed and Uhura curled up to her. She felt like she didn't know her own family, the Allens or the Stewarts. Her mother had told Leia that she needed to keep her wand hidden so as not to raise suspicion. Luke and their mother hardly ever used magic in the first place. She hated feeling unprotected. She knew she had the power to make certain spells without her wand, but she didn't feel comfortable without it anymore.

Luke knocked on the door.

"Hey, can I come in?" He asked behind the door.

"Of course you can." Leia said feeling confused again. They almost never _asked_ to go into each other's rooms, instead they just walked in. It felt like they weren't twins anymore.

When Luke shut the door, Leia grabbed her wand from her pillow case and casted a silencing spell.

"Are we Catholics?" Leia asked, moving to the floor to sit with her brother.

"We started going last November. I think Mom felt like she wanted to start going after she started reading the Daily Prophet. She was worried about you and me. She felt like she needed a higher power do deal with the stress. Dad went with her, and I went out of obligation."

"Are you baptized?"

"Yeah, we all got baptized last spring."

"You know, you could have mentioned this in all of those letters you wrote me, instead of writing about what happened on the last episode of Seinfeld."

"Seinfeld is funnier, and I didn't think you'd ever have to care about it."

"Do I have to go to church now?"

"It might look funny if only Mom, Dad, and I show up."

"It might look funnier when the bread thing happens and I can't go up because I'm not baptized."

Luke made a face.

"Maybe we can lie and pretend you were baptized. I mean we've lied about everything else, so what's one more to add to the list?"

"Do, like, you believe in all of it? God, Jesus, the pope?"

"No, not at all. We're wizards and pagans by species. But this wasn't about me, it was about Mom. And I'm sure we'll become more and more involved, because Mom has been freaking out."

"She has?" Leia said feel guiltier than she had before that sentence.

"Yeah, I mean, when your daughter's ex-boyfriend's cult threatens your family, you'll freak out too. She's going to put all of her time into doing church functions."

Leia hated this. She sighed.

"Since when do you play soccer?"

"It's football, get that straight first. People can get pretty nasty about it. And yeah, back in London I played after school a lot with some friends. I'm not terrible at it."

"And math?"

"I actually started applying myself in London. I got good grades, 3.7 GPA."**

"I'm bummed… I thought you would be as fucked educationally as I am."

"Well, you did really well at Hogwarts, didn't you?"

"I did, but like, potions is chemistry without the theory, arithmacy is calculus without the formulas, and healing is biology without the actual medicine. Really, the only thing that is helping me now is muggle studies, and that was learning about things I already knew."

"You're a good student though, and that's what matters."

"I have the French of a 6 year-old. How am I going to learn anything if I only understand every third word they say?"

"It'll be rough. I mean, over time you'll improve, but it'll suck at first. It will be hard to make new friends, and even harder to talk to your teachers. You're a hard worker though and that's what counts.

"You'll sit with me at lunch, right?" Leia asked, feeling vulnerable.

"Only to keep the guys off of you."

"Luke! I mean, Evan!" She said correcting herself.

"Seriously, did you even notice how Jerome was looking at you?"

"No…" Leia said embarrassed.

"I bet these country boys won't know what hit them. And the girls will be all over you too. Europeans love American students, just as much as we love people with accents."

"Whatever." Leia said rolling her eyes. "So, have you noticed no one smokes here? I thought these people were French for God's sake."

"I have noticed that… I don't know why that is either."

"I feel like I can't smoke here… It's too signature _me_ and it'll make me more noticeable."

"You? Quitting smoking?"

"Ugh, I hate the thought of it. It makes me want a cigarette."

"Did you bring a pack?"

"I brought like five."

"Throw them out. Quit cold turkey. You've only been doing this for a few years, it'll be easier that way. Especially now that you're in a smoke free community."

"Doubt it." Leia said, frowning.

At that moment there was a knock on the door. Leia used her wand to cancel the silencing charm, and then stuffed her wand under the mattress.

"_Entrez_." Leia said smoothly. The door opened to find Jerome looking at them sitting on the floor.

"Hey, I wanted to see if you feeling okay, and to where your brother had gone."

"I'm feeling better, and here he is. Want to join us?" Ashley replied, smiling.

"Sure." Jerome said, sitting down next to Evan.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" Evan asked curiously.

"Eh, we go to the cinema, ocean is not too far, play football, eh, go to Paris on the weekends…"

"Do you party?" Ashley asked, feeling adventurous.

Jerome raised his eyebrows a little.

"Oh, yes, we party."

"When's the next party?" Evan asked, looking at the Frenchmen incredulously.

"Tonight. I was planning on going. We can escape if you guys are quiet."

"Oh, we can be very quiet." Ashley said eyeing Jerome. She was willing to unleash some pent up energy.

"Meet in the kitchen at one tonight, my parents will be well asleep by then." He said with a smirk.

"What kind of party is it?" Even asked, while hiding his excitement.

"Dancing, drinking, music, that kind of party. It is at my friend's house."

"Will your friends know English?" She asked hoping she wouldn't have to use too much of her awful French.

"Yes, some."

"Great."

"Oh, football is about to start. France versus Bosnia."

Evan, not Luke anymore, stood up with Jerome.

"Are you guys still bitter about losing to the Czechs last year?" Evan said as they walked towards the door.

"I will always be bitter about that match-" Jerome said closing the door.

Neither of them said goodbye. Of course not.

*All of the schooling information is from Wikipedia and I'm not French, so I don't know how correct it is.

**I couldn't find information of the British GPA equivalent, but I'd take suggestions.


	3. Chapter 3

More reviews would be cool, but here's the next chapter anyway. Just let it happen. Btw, there is some French in here that makes sense in context, so you don't really have to translate it. However, if you want to use google translate. Thanks.

Song: Bjork, "The Hunter"

Biochemistry homework turned out to be relatively challenging, but nothing she couldn't figure out. It was the fourth week of her new school, and she was doing objectively alright. Ashley's French had improved greatly thanks to partying every night during the summer, and meeting gobs of new people in the surrounding communes. At school she was relatively popular, she had already met most of the other students during break, and everyone seemed very interested in the Stewart twins.

Evan was on the football team, and apparently doing very well. Leia didn't really pay attention. She would go to his matches, but she would also bring a book. Sports without flying brooms were even more uninteresting than sports with flying brooms. Ashley had become her art teacher's favorite in the drawing class she was taking. She was fairly good at it, and the teacher believed the lie that she had been at a fine arts school for the last two years. All of their lies were working out.

"What homework are you doing?" Jerome said, opening the door to her bedroom. He had gotten to the point where he would just walk into her room. Jerome was the closest thing she had to a real friend here.

"Biochemistry." Leia as Ashley said, sitting at her desk, the only furniture other than the bed. Her room was painfully dull. It felt like a dorm room without anyone livening there.

Jerome had also taken a focus on biology, so they had all of the same classes.

"How is it?" He asked, looking at her work.

"Not as bad as I expected."

Jerome shrugged.

"Want to go out?"

"Where?"

"Erquy will only be nice for a few more days."

Ashley had begun noticed how restless Jerome is. He couldn't sit still for very long. He probably started his homework and got bored and wanted to get out of the house. Erquy was the town where the beach was that they always went to. It was only a thirty minute drive from the Belaire's house.

"Sure. Want to leave now?"

"Yeah, yeah, I want to get out of the house. Is Evan still on his walk?"

Evan had gotten in the habit of taking long walks for hours. At least that's what he said, the family really had no idea. Ashley assumed he was meeting some girl, but who knew?

"Yeah, he's gone."

Ashley nodded and reached down to put her shoes back on. She was grabbing a light jacket off the floor when she heard the patter of Margo's feet.

"_Où vas-tu_?" The eight year-old asked quietly, translating in English to 'Where are you going?'

"Erquy. _Venir avec nous?" _Her brother responded, asking her if she wanted to come along. Everyone was quite fond of the youngest Belaire.

"_Oui, s'il vous plaît_. _Permettez-moi de ma veste_." She nodded while smiling as she walked back to her room to get her jacket.

"You don't mind?" Jerome said looking to Ashley as she stood up and walked towards the door and into the hallway.

"Of course not. I love Margo."

Within five minutes they were in Jerome's car and on their way to one of the last good days of beach.

"_J'aime la plage_." Margo said, saying 'I love the beach,' when they were in the car, and Leia was shifting through Jerome's pile of CDs.

"_Moi aussi_." Ashley agreed, looking to the back seat of Jerome's Volvo. Margo had long blonde hair, and an honest face. She looked more like her father whereas Jerome took after his mother. She held the features well, but she would probably have an awkward phase in adolescence.

For his part, Jerome had a really good taste in music. Littered on floor of his passenger seat was Bjork's _Homogenic_, Morrissey's _Maladjusted_, _OK Computer_, Marcy Playground's album, Dinosaur Jr.'s _Hand It Over_, a bunch of Sonic Youth albums, but also Sleater-Kinney's _Dig Me Out._ The hardest part was finding a record that was appropriate for an 8 year old. While they were all in English, Leia put in Bjork just to be safe.

"_Cette musique est bizarre._" Margo said after a moment of Bjork singing, noting that music was strange, while looking dreamily out the window.

"_Ça vous plaît?_" Jerome asked, taking a quick look back at her. He would change it if she didn't like it. Margo didn't reply for a minute.

"_Oui_." She finally said.

Bjork's voice echoed through the car as they passed by rolling green pastures. The beauty of her surroundings wasn't worth the fear that Leia constantly felt. Even now, at this peaceful moment, she feared that she was endangering herself, Jerome, and Margot. She tried to shake the thought away, but it stayed.

"What you thinking?" Jerome asked, glancing over at her.

"About my secrets." Ashley replied, letting Leia show through a little.

"Can't you tell me? I won't tell anyone and Margot doesn't know English."

She smiled a little.

"I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't."

"How about I tell you one of my secrets?"

"Only if it's a good one."

Jerome had this goofy grin on his face, and Ashley felt like this was going to be good.

"I had a sexy dream about you last night."

She laughed.

"I thought you were going to tell me about something from your childhood or something."

"Children couldn't come up with this."

"I want to know details."

"Maybe later…" He said gesturing back to his sister. Ashley nodded and smirked.

"Tell me one of your secrets." Jerome continued after a beat.

"Mine are no fun."

"I think that's not true. It could be a silly secret."

She looked out the window and thought for a moment.

"I don't _get_ David Bowie."

"Eh?" Jerome said as he had to swerve the car in surprise a little. "Joke, right?"

"I know, I'm sorry. I respect him as an artist, and I like his fashion sense, but I don't _get_ him."

"What is there to get?" Jerome seemed rightfully offended.

"That's just it, I DON'T KNOW!" Leia said, hiding her face in her hands. "I'm so ashamed! I've never admitted it to anyone else!"

"That's good. No one else should know about that." Jerome laughed.

"I'm so sorry."

"_Y at-il un problème_?" Margo asked, confused.

"_Oui, tout va bien._" Jerome responded, reassuring her everything was fine.

Soon they arrived in Erquy, a fishing port that was a favorite of the Belaires. It was a charming town, with nice people and few tourists. The beach wasn't popular at this time of year, mid-September, and it was probably a bit too breezy to go there anyway, but it was too peaceful to miss. After parking the car, Jerome got the blanket that he kept in the back seat. They all laid down on the blanket, just far enough away from the shore not to get wet.

"_Puis-je obtenir de la glace_?" Margot asked after a while of sitting, basking in the sun. Not too far away was an ice cream trunk that she wanted to go to. Jerome nodded and started pulling out some coins out of his pocket.

"_Crème glacée_?" Jerome asked, looking to Ashley.

"_Non, merci_." She said, declining his offer.

"_Deux chocolat." _He told his sister, showing two fingers and adding coins into her hand. Margot nodded and skipped away.

"You're going to eat two ice cream cones?" Ashley asked, as Jerome watched her sister run up to the truck.

"No, I want to watch you eat one of them." She rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Well, Margot might have trouble holding three ice cream cones with only two hands."

"It will be fun to watch her try." He said laughing.

"Oh, I just remembered, I want to know the sex dream details."

"I tied you up and you called me _capitaine_."

"Is that it? Nautical BDSM?"

"I got to taste you."

Ashley arched an eyebrow.

"Then I took you from behind." He continued. "You enjoyed it a lot."

Leia snorted.

"And that's really what matters." She replied. As Margot walked carefully up to them, juggling three ice cream cones, a black butterfly flew onto Ashley's leg. The creature rested there for a moment, and instinct told Ashley to reach out and touch it. The butterfly immediately flew away as she got near it. Jerome noticed this altercation.

"Sometimes when you get so close to touching someone, they fly away and you never see them again."

The two looked at each other silently and let his comment sink in.

Margot finally made it with her strawberry ice cream, and the other two chocolates. Jerome took the two from her hands and gave one to Leia. She gave it a decisive lick as he stared at her.

"_Pensez-vous que Ashley est belle_?" Jerome asked Margo if she thought Ashley was beautiful. Ashley rolled her eyes.

"_Oui. Est-elle votre petite amie_?" Margot agreed and asking a cute question.

"What does _petite amie_ mean? Small friend?" Ashley asked.

"It means sweetheart. Are you my _petite amie_?" He asked looking at Ashley so sincerely.

"Maybe." She tried not to smile.

"_Peut-être_." He translated for Margot.

"_Je l'aime_." Margot answered, eating her ice cream absentmindedly.

"I like her too." Jerome said, looking at Ashley.

Leia tried not to roll her eyes at this romantic moment. Love had only made her cynical.


End file.
